Writing, Peer Editing, Conferencing

Journalism 1, Yearbook, Newspaper

Most of my staff and my intro class are working on feature writing (or refining their skills). Journalism 1’s goal is to get theirs published on www.therideronline.com for a 100 for the next grading period. Yearbook will use theirs, in some form, in the yearbook. Newspaper personality profiles are drafted and posted to bank up. This means we post them on Mondays, so the website has new content each Monday.

Steps in Writing and Editing Process

  1. The last few classes in Journalism 1 have been about writing leads and using UIL prompts for structure.
  2. I have a quick refresher (by lots of reading) to newspaper and yearbook.
  3. They have to find an interesting person not in journalism, not in major clubs or sports, not a “popular” kid and especially not one of their friends. Finding the person they want to write on is the hardest part. I have teacher friends I send them to for ideas.
  4. Demonstrate: It’s important to me to show J1 (editors usually show the publication staffs) the thought process and how I put together a story. A good coach will demonstrate on the court of field so should we.
  5. Have them peer edit. Use this easy form.
  6. Use the editing checklist. (Shout out to Lori Olgesbee for this one.)
  7. Then I have a one-on-one conference with them and read the story aloud.

When Editing Feature Writing Peer Check List

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